The mass production of bakery goods followed by the fast-freezing of the baked goods has been known and practiced for a number of years; however, most of the bakery goods so distributed was of the general type of coffee cakes, sweet rolls, dessert pastries and the like.
The introduction of the benefits of frozen distribution to baked bread goods, i.e., bread, rolls and the like, being produced in high volumes has been most difficult. One early attempt was to freeze the dough prior to proofing and then, at the point of use, proof and bake as needed. This has proven difficult to accomplish due to the fact that yeast action is required for proper proofing, and freezing tends to freeze-injure the yeast. In addition, an unpredictable amount of yeast death results from the vagaries of temperature encountered in the typical frozen food distribution chain. As a result when the frozen dough would be proofed, it might either rise excessively or insufficiently, depending on both the amount of yeast provided and its survival rate.
The problem with freezing freshly baked goods is that the starch crystallization necessary to fully convert dough to marketable bread goods will not occur while the goods are in the frozen state. Normally this starch crystallization fully occurs during the first 24 hours from the time the bread leaves the oven, and thus it occurs before normal consumption because distribution usually takes that long. If a large, high volume bakery were to store its baked goods for 24 hours before freezing so as to allow starch crystallization, the volume of baked products would require excessive conveyors and storage spaces and/or expensive rehandling. Accordingly, most high volume bakeries, such as those that make hamburger buns, proof and bake and then ship the buns fresh, allowing the starch crystallization to take place during the initial portion of the transportation period. However, fresh-baked goods tend to subsequently stale, and thus special consideration must be given to rapid delivery (necessitating special truck fleets), careful rotation of stock and the discarding to garbage of any old product. With the advent of fast food franchises, the market for buns and the like for hamburgers, red hots, fish fillets and other such items has magnified greatly. Because of the still increasing number of such fast-food outlets, improvements in the provision of such baked bread products have been actively sought.